Meanwhile a minister was forced to clarify comments made in the Senedd about a “transformation fund” for the sector.

Vikki Howells, the further and higher education minister, wrote to the Llywydd, Elin Jones, after making reference to a fund in response to a question in the chamber on Tuesday.

“I would like to clarify that the policy in this area remains at a very exploratory stage, and we are still working through what, if any, potential support mechanism may look like”, she said.

She added that the government “do not believe there is any Welsh institution that is at risk of failure”.

The Welsh government said it had increased the tuition fee limit from £9,000 to £9,250.

It said the financial position of universities was being monitored by Medr, the new institution responsible for funding the sector, and Ms Howells met universities regularly.